Lebanon court rejects anti-gay law. A lower court in Lebanon ruled this year that homosexuality is natural and therefore not a criminal offense. That ruling chips away at the country’s anti-LGBT stance, but isn’t as far-reaching as if Lebanon’s highest court had made it.

GAMBIA

Gambian President Adama Barrow (Photo courtesy of the Daily Mail)

LGBT hopes in Africa In the Gambia, new President Adama Barrow took over from his violently homophobic predecessor, Yahya Jammeh. Although the country’s anti-gay law has not been repealed, it apparently is no longer being enforced. This month the country’s Jollof News printed an interview with Vivian Affoah, a local media expert who stated:

“There are no reported incidents of state-perpetrated online abuse or attacks on the basis of gender or sexuality. This government may have a softer stance on sexual diversity. President Barrow was recently asked about his position on homosexuality and he indicated that it was “not an issue in The Gambia.”

Caribbean trans activists form advocacy group. Eight transgender activists from the Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana and Antigua formed a new Caribbean advocacy initiative, the Transgender Caucus Group. Its initial organizational meeting was held during the Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference (CWSDC) on Saint Lucia, which was organized by ECADE.

LGBT rights activists in Cameroon met in Yaoundé to plan their national human rights monitoring project.

Police continue to arrest sexual minorities under the country’s repressive anti-LGBT law, but the defendants have many supporters.

Activist group Shams wins in court.Shams, a prominent Tunisian group pushing for the decriminalization of homosexuality, turned back a legal challenge by opponents who argued that the government should withdraw the group’s official recognition and force it to shut down.

Tunisia drops anal tests, but not its anti-gay law. The country pledged to the United Nations that it would no longer impose forced anal exams, which had been used (as in many homophobic societies) as a supposed test for homosexual activity by male defendants.

Survey: Nigerians grow more tolerant of LGBT people. A recent survey found that Nigerians have become a bit more tolerant of LGBT people. In the latest survey, 39% said they should have equal access to healthcare, housing and education — a 9% increase from the 2015 survey.

Former British colonies inch toward LGBTI rights. The Commonwealth of Nations, comprising 52 countries that mostly were former British colonies, has granted legal recognition to an LGBTI group for the first time. Overall, the group has a poor record on LGBTI rights — of the 52 countries in the Commonwealth, 36 have laws against consensual same-sex intimacy.

AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS

Logo of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Progress toward defending sexual minorities in Africa. Africa’s continent-wide human rights commission — the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights — has started taking abuses of LGBT people seriously. Although 33 of its member countries have laws against homosexual activity, the commission has started pushing for recognition of the human rights of LGBT people. That pressure comes in the form of resolutions and guidelines, which don’t have the force of law but are influential throughout most of Africa.